February 28, 2011

Today I found my 1.5 year old playing outside on our play set unsupervised. I got upset at my 3 year old because I assumed he had let my 1.5 year old out the front door. Later in the day I caught my youngest opening the front door by himself to play outside to his hearts content. Looks like our youngest is smart & loves trouble!

February 26, 2011

An article in Skeletal Radiology, a well-respected journal, created something of a sensation in Europe last year. It reported that researchers from Danube Hospital in Austria examined the knees of marathon runners using M.R.I. imaging, before and after the 1997 Vienna marathon. Ten years later, they scanned the same runners’ knees again. The results were striking. “No major new internal damage in the knee joints of marathon runners was found after a 10-year interval,” the researchers reported. Only one of the participants had a knee that was truly a mess, and he’d quit running before the 1997 marathon (but had been included in that study anyway). His 1997 knee M.R.I. revealed cartilage lesions, swelling and other abnormalities. In the years that followed, the knee became worse, showing augmented tissue damage and more serious lesions. His exam prompted the researchers to wonder whether he would have been better off persisting as a runner, because, as they speculate, “continuous exercise is protective, rather than destructive,” to knees.You can’t be a runner past the age of 40, as I am, without hearing that running will ruin your knees, by which doomsayers usually mean that we’ll develop “degeneration of the cartilage in the kneecap, which ­reduces its shock-absorbing capacity,” says Ross Tucker, a physiologist in South Africa and co-author of the new book “The Runner’s Body: How the Latest Exercise Science Can Help You Run Stronger, Longer and Faster.” In other words, we’ll be afflicted with arthritis.

It’s not an unreasonable supposition; other sports have been linked with early-onset arthritis in knees. In a British study, almost half of the middle-aged, formerly elite soccer players were found to have crippling, bone-on-bone arthritis in at least one knee. Former weight lifters also have a high incidence of the condition, as do retired N.F.L. players.

But despite entrenched mythology to the contrary, runners don’t seem prone to degenerating knees. An important 2008 study, this one from Stanford University, followed middle-aged, longtime distance runners (not necessarily marathoners) for nearly 20 years, beginning in 1984, when most were in their 50s or 60s. At that time, 6.7 percent of the runners had creaky, mildly arthritic knees, while none of an age-matched control group did. After 20 years, however, the runners’ knees were healthier; only 20 percent showed arthritic changes, versus 32 percent of the control group’s knees. Barely 2 percent of the runners’ knees were severely arthritic, while almost 10 percent of the control group’s were. “We were quite surprised,” says Eliza Chakravarty, an assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “Our hypothesis going in had been that runners, because of the repetitive pounding, would develop more frequent and more severe arthritis.”

Instead, recent evidence suggests that running may actually shield somewhat against arthritis, in part because the knee develops a kind of motion groove. A group of engineers and doctors at Stanford published a study in the February issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery that showed that by moving and loading your knee joint, as you do when walking or running, you “condition” your cartilage to the load. It grows accustomed to those particular movements. You can run for miles, decades, a lifetime, without harming it. But if this exquisite balance is disturbed, usually by an injury, the loading mechanisms shift, the moving parts of the knee are no longer in their accustomed alignment and a “degenerative pathway” seems to open. The cartilage, like an unbalanced tire, wears away. Pain, tissue disintegration and, eventually, arthritis can follow.

So, the best way to ensure that your knees aren’t hurt by running is not to hurt them in the first place. “The biggest predictor of injury is previous injury,” Tucker says, and one of the best deterrents against a first (or subsequent) knee injury is targeted strength training. “The hip stabilizers, quads, hamstrings and core must all be strong enough. As soon as there is weakness, some other muscle or joint must take over, and that’s when injuries happen.”

If you’ve injured your knee in the past, particularly if you’ve ever torn an A.C.L. (an injury that, in the Stanford gait study, was closely associated with misalignment and cartilage degeneration), talk to your physician before running. But for most runners, the scientific observations of Chakravarty will ring true. “What struck me,” she says, “is that the runners we studied were still running, well into their 70s and 80s.” They weren’t running far, she says. They weren’t running frequently. They averaged perhaps 90 minutes a week. “But they were still running.”

This will be a 6 session series of Triathlon seminars tailored to meet the needs of the participants. The first four sessions will focus on swimming skills and techniques to build a more efficient athlete.

This is a free event, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Region of the USAT.

February 23, 2011

In my race this weekend I realized I was slower in the aero position than up in the traditional riding position. The reason is because I've been predominantly riding my indoor trainer this winter. Since I only ride my road bike on my indoor trainer I suck on my triathlon aero bike. I need to start riding my tri bike, but since I take care of our 3 babies while my wife is in school 3 days a week I am stuck cycling on my indoor trainer all but one of my cycling training days. I refuse to put my tri bike up on my indoor trainer because it's carbon, & expensive, so that option is also out. That leaves only one more option.... Riding my triathlon bike in the aero position on my rollers. I tried it today, & it was wobbly & made me a little nervous at first. But after 20 minutes I seemed to get it down. Next week I'm going to get my wife to record me riding my rollers on my tri bike tucked into the aero position. I will probably end up falling the minute she turns on the cam corder, but hey, it's all in the name of training g for the time crunched triathlete!

I did my LT run test at the NM state corrections academy. While I was doing my test the corrections academy class from Honduras was on the track working out also. Part way through my workout I took off my jacket and threw it on the ground. At the end of my workout I realized my jacket was gone..... I'm angry. Grrr.

My new Loius Gareau aero helmet melted on the way home from my race. Considering the temperature to & from the race was never above 60 degrees, that angers me. I paid $160 for that helmet less than a year ago and used it less than half a dozen times. I should have been able to get more use from it.

I noticed during the Presadents Day duathlon that I was a much more powerfull cyclist when I was out of the aero position. Normally people are faster in the aero position. I'm fairly certain the reason for this is because during the winter I rode my indoor trainer exclusively. I wont put my triathlon bike on my trainer because it's a full carbon bike & I'm afraid of damaging it so all my cycling miles have been on a road bike & in the upright traditional riding style. I need to start training in the aero position to get more aclimated to riding fast, hard, & long in the aero position- train like you race, race like you train.

February 22, 2011

Yesterday I did a run lactate threshold test. Although I am still slow & out of shape I've made massive improvements. January 10th I did a run LT test that I ran in a horribly slow 9:14 per mile pace. Today I ran a 8:14 pace, which is still slow, but I got 1 minute faster per mile in only 6 weeks. My next race, the Spring Fling triathlon is 2 months away. Hopefully my run will be in the low 7 minute per mile range by then, I'll need to be that much faster to be able to take top 3 in the SW Challenge series for a 6th consecutive year.

I'm currently weighing in at 213. I have 28 pounds to go until I reach my ultimate race weight of 185. I'm hoping to get to 185 by the Storie lake triathlon Scheduled for June 19th.

February 21, 2011

The Presidents Day duathlon this year was bitter sweet. I started out hitting my bike on the top of a Chik-Fil-A drive through. Then the ferocious winds of Las Cruces ripped my bike off the roof rack. Race morning my rear tire wouldn't inflate. Somehow it all panned out & I was able to race afterall.

I knew I was going to have a slow race. Turns out it was my slowest race performance in 5 years. I averaged 8:13 miles for the 5K run which was on a dirt road. I averaged 19.9 miles per hour on the bike which was just shy of 18 miles long.

I placed 3rd in my age group, finishing 3 minutes 13 seconds behind the 2nd place 35-39 AG finisher, & a full 3 minutes 23 seconds behind the winner of the 35-39.

This was my 1st race of the 2011 South West Challenge Series. A 3rd place finish at the Presidents day du gives me 8 points for the season so far. I need to pack on a lot more speed if I'm going to defend my 35-39 SW Challenge Series championship or if I'm going to go sub 13 hours at Ironman Arizona in November.

Friday my family & I traveled from Santa Fe to Las Cruces so I could compete in the Presidents day duathlon. The trip was horrible.

I forgot my bike was on the roof when I went through the drive through of Chick-Fil-A & I ran my bike into the drive through over hang. My aero bars were bent & crooked, but surprisingly my bike still shifted ok.

20 miles south of Elephant Butte on I-25 the wind blew the front of my bike off my bike roof rack. My bike was flopping around the back of my mini-van like a wet flag. The strap that wraps around the rear wheel was the only thing keeping my bike from flying off the back of my van & becoming road kill. Although the rear wheel stayed strapped onto the mini-van the bike was still getting whipped around pretty badly by the wind & the speed of my van driving down the road. I took my bike on a test ride after wards & surprisingly it had minimal damage. I'll need to replace 2 water bottle holders ($12) & the front fork ($450), all things considered the damage could have been much worse.

Race morning I was unable to pump up my rear wheel because of part of my tire being damaged on one or both of the incidents the day before. I was able to pump the rear wheel up enough to race, but not nearly to the pressure needed to prevent excess rolling resistance.

With all that happened to my bike it should have been much worse. Thankfully I was still able to race. I'll post my race report tomorrow.

February 17, 2011

I had taught my daughter to ride her bicycle without training wheels last year before her 5th birthday. She forgot how to bike during the winter, so I've spent the last 2 days re-teaching her.

Today my daughter asked me to run next to her while she rode in case she got scared. Sounded like a great idea to me. She'd get practice riding without training wheels & I'd get in some base run miles. Turns out I didn't get in many base miles at all, it was mostly hill & speed work. She was amazing at hill climbing! A real natural! I told her she is the best hill climber I'd ever seen & that she made me tired when she rode uphill as fast as she did. From then on she got a kick out of riding as fast as she could uphill, & that little girl can haul butt uphill! I was having to push myself to keep up. She stopped peddling & rested on the downhill, but since she was on a bike she was still going dang fast downhill, so there I was struggling to keep up with her still! She rode for an hour fifty minutes with me running next to her at almost full speed. After the hour fifty minutes a few boys saved me by asking if they could ride with her. At that point I was able to sit down & watch them & rest. Their favorite game was racing eachother, & they did a ton of it! Race after race after race! If they happened to pass her on the flats or downhill, she ALWAYS pass them on the uphill. After about 45 minutes of riding fast & hard, beating them in race after race, she made 2 out of the 3 boys cry! Oh ya! That's my girl!

At my next triathlon I want to make anyone who tries to hang with me cry, I want to race like my 5 year old little girl.

February 15, 2011

Today I was planning going in to work for a 12 hour overtime shift. Last minute I decided to stay home. I was trying to spend as much time with my daughter today as I could, so I drove her to pre-K. Turns out her school got canceled because of plumbing problems. So we had the whole day together!!! When we got home my 3 kids & I rode bicycles, put together puzzles, watched movies, & played on the swing set. A perfect day, except for my youngest deciding he's Super Dave!

Here's Rion, our youngest of 3. He is our toughest & most fearless child. To the point where he scares the heck out of my wife & I. Here he is climbing the 6 foot ladder of our family swing set. He's 16 months old. He's the one that's going to give me heart problems.

February 12, 2011

This season I'm using the Ironman training plan from the book Ironfit by Don Fink. The book has me doing a tune up Half Iron 8 weeks before my Ironman triathlon. Since the Ironman I'm competing in this year is Ironman Arizona on November 20th, my tune up half Iron race is supposed to be on the weekend of September 24th. There are 2 half Irons that weekend, the Redman in Oklahoma city Oklahoma, or the Elephantman in Elephant Butte New Mexico. I live only a few hours from Elephant Butte NM, my Dad lives there, & this year is the Elephantman half Iron's inaugural year. Actually the Elephantman half will be the 1st half Iron in New Mexico, so the decision was easy! I signed up for the Elephantman. I was surprised that the Elephantman registration was only $190! A 70.3 race of the same distance owned & put on by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) is $250-$300. I had stopped supporting the WTC races when they stopped having a clydesdale division & continued to raise the prices of their races. Although it's been a couple years since I've raced an entire season as a clydesdale, I am still a supporter of the clyd & athena divisions. The Elephantman half has clydesdale & athena divisions & the registration is cheaper! The last couple years I've heard nothing but great things about the race directors who are putting on the Elephantman, so I'm convinced. I'm very excited about being able to be a part of this race. Not only am I a supporter of any race that is in competition with the WTC, but it's not very often I can have the opportunity to compete in the 1st half Iron distance triathlon in a state!

February 11, 2011

I'll be competing in my 1st multisport race of the 2011 season next weekend, February 19th at White Sands Missile Range New Mexico. It's the Presidents day duathlon. The Presidents Day duathlon will be my first race since July of last year. It's been 7 months since the last time I've toed a start line. 6 of those 7 months I didn't train at all. The Presidents day duathlon will be a 5k run & 30k bike. Last year I took 5th place overall and 1st place in my age group 35-39 at the Presidents Day duathlon. I'm not expecting another break through race like I had last year. I'm physically unprepared for this race. I still haven't got my fitness & speed back from my very very long hiatus & I'm still carrying 23 pounds of the weight I had packed on. I thought about not showing up for this race, but since I have decided to race the entire season as an age grouper rather than a Clydesdale I will need every extra point I can scrape up for the South West Challenge Series 35-39 age group! I took 1st place in the South West Challenge Series 35-39 age group last year & am hoping to be able to take another top 3 position this year. To do that I'm going to have to race a lot more than I had originally planned. I'm expecting I'll need to race 8-11 of the races in the South West Challenge Series to guarantee a top 3 slot. So it looks like it's going to be another season of heavy racing!

February 10, 2011

I was having a harder time getting back into the training & dieting groove this year. I was struggling to drop the off season weight I'd picked up & was getting to the point that I was expecting I was going to have to race the 2011 season as a Clydesdale again. In early January I got on a roll with my training & dropping the weight. I'm trying to lose the weight slower this time, I'm guessing I'll be down to 190 around mid April. Even though the 1st half of the triathlon season I'll be over 200 pounds, so I could race as a Clydesdale, I'm planning on registering in the 35-39 age group so that all my races for the year are in the same division.

190 is the weight I feel best at. I sport a 6 pack at 190. Anytime I drop below 190 I feel consistently hungry, get sick more easily, & am a grouch, but at 185 am I fast! I'm planning to maintain & race race at 190 until October, then in early October, God willing, I'll start dropping the extra 5-10 pounds to ensure I'm at my fastest at Ironman Arizona. I feel confident that I can go sub 13 hours as long as I get & stay below 200 pounds. I'm guessing I can be closer to 12 hours if I am able to show up on race day weighing 180-185.

My 1st race of the 2011 season will be the Presidents day duathlon, next Saturday at White Sands Missile Range New Mexico.

February 03, 2011

Yesterday I rode my bicycle home from work at 6 am, the wind-chill was negative 13 degrees. After just a couple minutes on my bike my eye lashes froze together. It looked like I was viewing the road from the inside of a venus fly trap. Even with cold weather gloves on my hands ached from the bone chilling cold. My face began to feel like it was going to crack open where my skin was exposed. My eyes were involuntarily tearing & the tears were freezing to my face, when I flexed my cheeks I could feel the frozen tears crack & fall off in flakes. I had a blast! It was thrilling knowing I was doing something most people would never even dream of attempting! That'll be a great story to be able to tell my children. Nothing like a great story to tell them about how easy they have it!

February 02, 2011

Adolph "Al" Levis, a Philadelphia high-school dropout, had a tidy little business making pickled pig's feet in his garage and selling them to local taverns during the Depression. Then he got a brilliant idea: make a pencil-thin sausage that was easier to fish out of a jar and eat with your fingers. To give his new product a classy image, he logoed it with a tuxedoed man in a top hat and named it Slim Jim.

Slim Jim's recipe changed during the 1960s. The new owner (now ConAgra -- purveyors of Healthy Choice® and many other brands) added chicken scraps (separated from the bones by Mr. Mudry’s machine) and apparently altered the spices. The new recipe is locked in a vault in Ohio.

The manufacturing process used to be hush-hush, too -- but in 1996 a New York Times reporter got a peek inside the Slim Jim factory in Garner, N.C.

Cow Heads

"Slim Jims begin as 60-pound frozen blocks of sliced meat labeled 'beef head meat,' which originates in the foreheads and cheeks of cattle," the reporter wrote. Ground up with the chicken scraps and mixed with 30 spices, these ingredients make a pink mush that is squirted into 7600-foot-long coils of sausage casing (presumably artificial, not intestinal), then fermented and baked for a total of 20 hours. In one of the last steps, the coils are sprayed with liquid smoke.

Now here's why I think Slim Jims are "America’s Worst Food": Besides being made of cow heads, they get 80 percent of their calories from fat -- nearly a tenth of which is trans fat, notorious for clogging arteries. (The official Recommended Dietary Allowance of trans fat is zero.) In addition, a one-ounce Slim Jim contains 35 milligrams of cholesterol (one-eighth of the daily recommended limit) and a whopping 420 milligrams of sodium -- the amount in 35 potato chips. Overuse of sodium is a major culprit in high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

The sodium nitrite in Slim Jims is not a problem. Most people get far more of that chemical from fruits and vegetables than from processed meats. It also inhibits growth of botulism and other harmful pathogens. And contrary to popular belief, it is not implicated in cancer. If you think so, you probably have it confused with nitrosamines, which are produced when processed meats are overcooked. Nitrosamines are the main reason you should never eat charred bacon.

In case you're wondering, Levis's original product is far more healthful than Slim Jims. Pickled pig's feet contain 17 percent less fat, only a trace of trans fat, 33 percent less cholesterol, and 62 percent less sodium.